NewsRx Health & Science back issues from March 2009:
Wireless drug control.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Electronic implants that dispense medicines automatically or via a wireless medical network are on the horizon. Australian and US researchers warn of the security risks in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology. With the advent ...
Astronauts on International Space Station lose alarming amounts of hipbone strength.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Astronauts spending months in space lose significant bone strength, making them increasingly at risk for fractures later in life. UC Irvine and UC San Francisco led a study evaluating 13 astronauts who spent four to six months on the International Space Station and found that, ...
Researchers examine role of climate change in disease spread.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Ever since scientists first proposed that our planet might be experiencing widespread climate change, concerns have been raised about its implications for the spread of arboviruses u viruses carried by arthropods such as mosquitoes, midges and ticks. However, while alterations in ...
Biofuels can provide viable, sustainable solution to reducing petroleum dependence.
Mar 01, 2009 ... An in-depth study by Sandia National Laboratories and General Motors Corp. has found that plant and forestry waste and dedicated energy crops could sustainably replace nearly a third of gasoline use by the year 2030. The goal of the "90-Billion Gallon Biofuel Deployment Study" ...
New method to stimulate immune system may be effective at reducing amyloid burden in Alzheimer's.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center have discovered a novel way to stimulate the innate immune system of mice with Alzheimer's disease (AD) - leading to reduced amyloid deposits and the prevention of Alzheimer's disease related pathology - without causing toxic side effects. The ...
Trailblazing rural community shows green heating oil a viable option.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Local schools and homes in the small Georgian town of Reepham in Norfolk are taking part in the groundbreaking 12-month trial, led by the University of East Anglia (UEA). Like two million homes across the UK and Ireland, the properties depend on heating oil for warmth and hot ...
Report reveals devastating impact on families of Britain's control orders and detention regime.(Report)
Mar 01, 2009 ... The Institute of Race Relations has published a new report on the devastating impact on family life of Britain's anti-terrorist control order and detention policy. The report, entitled 'Besieged in Britain', has been written by journalist and author Victoria Brittain, co-author with ...
Obesity during pregnancy associated with increased risk of birth defects.
Mar 01, 2009 ... For women who are obese during pregnancy there is an associated increased risk of certain birth defects, such as spina bifida and neural tube defects, although the absolute increase in risk is likely to be small, according to an analysis of previous studies, reported in the February 11 ...
Groundbreaking study on complex movements of enzymes.
Mar 01, 2009 ... A groundbreaking study has revealed in great detail how enzymes in the cell cooperate to make fat. These enzymes are integrated into a single molecular complex known as fatty acid synthase. This complex is regarded as a potential target for developing new anti-obesity and anti-cancer ...
Growth factor protects key brain cells in Alzheimer's models.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Memory loss, cognitive impairment, brain cell degeneration and cell death were prevented or reversed in several animal models after treatment with a naturally occurring protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). The study by a University of California, San Diego-led team u ...
While focusing on heart disease, researchers discover new tactic against fatal muscular dystrophy.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Based on a striking similarity between heart disease and Duchenne muscular dystrophy, researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have discovered that a new class of experimental drugs for heart failure may also help treat the fatal muscular disorder. At first glance, ...
Children with inflammatory bowel disease have surprisingly high folate levels, study finds.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Children with newly diagnosed cases of inflammatory bowel disease have higher concentrations of folate in their blood than individuals without IBD, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and UC Berkeley. The findings bring into question ...
New research reveals increasing impact of climate change on investment decisions.
Mar 01, 2009 ... New research by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) with responses from 80 of CDP's signatory investors across the globe revealed that three-quarters factor climate change information into their investment decisions and asset allocations. Of these, more than 80% consider climate ...
Two-step chemical process turns raw biomass into biofuel.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Taking a chemical approach, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed a two-step method to convert the cellulose in raw biomass into a promising biofuel. The process, which is described in the Wednesday, Feb. 11 issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, ...
Survey of metabolites finds new prostate cancer marker.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have identified a new biological marker present in the urine of patients with prostate cancer that indicates whether the cancer is progressing and spreading. In experiments reported in the February 12, 2009, issue of the journal ...
On the origin of subspecies.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Scientists have sequenced over seventy strains of yeast, the greatest number of genomes for any species. "Analysing so many strains has helped us to bring the small branches of Darwin's 'Tree of Life' into focus," said Dr Steve James of the National Collection of Yeast Cultures ...
New animated films challenge false representation of Native Americans in the media.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Popular film and television shows have shaped the way Americans view American history u especially the frontier encounters between settlers and Native Americans. Examining the ways Native Americans are portrayed negatively in Westerns and other film genres, Joanna Hearne, assistant ...
Alcohol adverts attract the young.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Alcohol advertising and marketing may lead to underage drinking. A large systematic review of more than 13,000 people, published in the open access journal BMC Public Health, suggests that exposure to ads and product placements, even those supposedly not directed at young people, leads to ...
Deciphering the body's healing secrets.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Healthy blood vessels play a key role in the prevention and treatment of diseases such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Endothelial cells line the blood vessels and are critical to the regulation of blood vessel growth and function. Researchers at the Centenary ...
Financial risk taking: Blame it on the genes.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Financial institutions continue to teeter on the brink of ruin. Banks are still devouring bailout money without loosening credit enough to make a difference in a recession that is sweeping the globe. And everyone keeps asking, "How in the world did so many financial titans take such huge ...
New lab evidence suggests preventive effect of herbal supplement in prostate cancer.
Mar 01, 2009 ... DHEA is a natural circulating hormone and the body's production of it decreases with age. Men take DHEA as an over-the-counter supplement because it has been suggested that DHEA can reverse aging or have anabolic effects since it can be metabolized in the body to androgens. Increased ...
Biobanks will provide 'electronic specimens' for medical research.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Future medical research will focus increasingly on electronic data, with less need both for laboratory animals and tissue samples. This long term trend emerged at a recent conference on biobanking organised by the European Science Foundation (ESF), which dealt with the challenges posed by ...
Stem cells used to reverse paralysis in animals.
Mar 01, 2009 ... A new study has found that transplantation of stem cells from the lining of the spinal cord, called ependymal stem cells, reverses paralysis associated with spinal cord injuries in laboratory tests. The findings show that the population of these cells after spinal cord injury was many ...
Marching to the beat of the same drum improves teamwork.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Armies train by marching in step. Religions around the world incorporate many forms of singing and chanting into their rituals. Citizens sing the National Anthem before sporting events. Why do we participate in these various synchronized activities? A new study, published in the January ...
New factor in teen obesity: Parents.
Mar 01, 2009 ... There may be a reason teenagers eat more burgers and fries than fruits and vegetables: their parents. In a new policy brief released by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, researchers found that adolescents are more likely to eat at least five servings of fruits and ...
Silencing of jumping genes in pollen.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Scientists at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia (IGC), in Portugal, are to date the only research group in the world capable of isolating the sperm cells in the pollen grain of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. This technique was crucial in a study to be published in the latest issue ...
Iron on its route to the sea-floor: a new path.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Iron dust, the rarest nutrient for most marine life, can be washed down by rivers or blown out to sea or--a surprising new study finds--float up from the sea floor in the material spewed from hydrothermal vents. The discovery, published online Feb. 8, 2009, in a paper in the ...
Mouse study reveals genetic component of empathy.(Report)
Mar 01, 2009 ... The ability to empathize with others is partially determined by genes, according to new research on mice from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU). In the study, a highly social strain of mice learned to associate a sound played in ...
Worm provides clues about preventing damage caused by low-oxygen during stroke, heart attack.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Neurobiologists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified pathways that allow microscopic worms to survive in a low-oxygen, or hypoxic, environment. They believe the finding could have implications for conditions such as stroke, heart attack and ...
Internal choices are weaker than those dictated by the outside world.(Report)
Mar 01, 2009 ... The underlying sense of being in control of our own actions is challenged by new research from UCL (University College London) which demonstrates that the choices we make internally are weak and easily overridden compared to when we are told which choice to make. The research, ...
Pharmaceuticals sold in Sweden cause serious environmental harm in India.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Many of the substances in our most common medicines are manufactured in India and China. Some of these factories release large quantities of antibiotics and other pharmaceutical substances to the environment. There is an obvious risk of these releases leading to resistant bacteria. ...
Report shows motor control exercises reduce persistent low-back pain.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Motor control exercises, when performed in conjunction with other forms of therapy, can significantly reduce pain and disability in patients with persistent low back pain, according to a new systematic review published in the January issue of Physical Therapy (PTJ), the scientific journal ...
Cell phones dangerous for child pedestrians, UAB study finds.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Children who talk on cell phones while crossing streets are at a higher risk for injuries or death in a pedestrian accident, said psychologists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in a new study that will appear in the February issue of Pediatrics. "Cell phones clearly offer ...
Amid rising childhood obesity, preschoolers found to be inactive.
Mar 01, 2009 ... The rate of childhood obesity has risen significantly in the United States, with many children becoming overweight at younger ages. At the same time, the number of preschoolers in center-based programs is also on the rise. Now a new study finds that, contrary to conventional wisdom, ...
Pediatric Hodgkin's disease survivors face increased breast cancer risk.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Women who as children got radiation treatment for Hodgkin's disease are almost 40 times more likely than others to develop breast cancer, according to findings from five institutions, including the University of Florida. The higher the radiation dose, the higher the risk, ...
Neural circuitry of near-misses may explain the allure of gambling.
Mar 01, 2009 ... A new study demonstrates that when gambling, almost winning promotes significant recruitment of win-related circuitry within the brain and enhances the motivation to gamble. The research, published by Cell Press in the February 12th issue of the journal Neuron, provides insight into why ...
MIT: Multiple genes implicated in autism.
Mar 01, 2009 ... By pinpointing two genes that cause autism-like symptoms in mice, researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory have shown for the first time that multiple, interacting genetic risk factors may influence the severity of autistic symptoms. The study, reported in ...
Winning responses to near-misses.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Why do people gamble if they know that the house always wins? Researchers at the University of Cambridge argue that near-misses, where the gambler narrowly misses out on the jackpot, may provide part of the answer. Although the gambler loses their bet on a near-miss, where the ...
NIH report finds costs of digestive diseases has grown to more than $141 billion a year.(Report)
Mar 01, 2009 ... Digestive, liver and pancreatic diseases result in more than 100 million outpatient visits and 13 million hospitalizations annually at a cost of $141.8 billion. A new report commissioned by the National Institutes of Health finds that costs, doctor visits, prescription costs and ...
Unexplained chest pain can be due to stress.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Each year, many people seek emergency treatment for unexplained chest pains. A thesis from the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, indicates several common factors among those affected, including stress at work, anxiety, depression and a sedentary lifestyle. ...
Buying experiences, not possessions, leads to greater happiness.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Can money make us happy if we spend it on the right purchases? A new psychology study suggests that buying life experiences rather than material possessions leads to greater happiness for both the consumer and those around them. The findings will be presented at the Society for Personality ...
No joy in discoveries of new mammal species -- only a warning for humanity, Paul Ehrlich says.
Mar 01, 2009 ... In the era of global warming, when many scientists say we are experiencing a human-caused mass extinction to rival the one that killed off the dinosaurs, one might think that the discovery of a host of new species would be cause for joy. Not entirely so, says Paul Ehrlich, co-author of an ...
Multilingualism brings communities closer together.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Learning their community language outside the home enhances minority ethnic children's development, according to research led from the University of Birmingham. The research, which was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, found that attending language classes at ...
Immunosuppressant medication may be cost-effective for dry eye syndrome.
Mar 01, 2009 ... A topical eye emulsion consisting of cyclosporine (a medication used to reduce transplant rejections or to treat arthritis and psoriasis) may be a cost-effective treatment for dry eye syndrome that does not respond to other therapies, according to a report in the February issue of Archives ...
Research highlights potential for improved solar cells.
Mar 01, 2009 ... A team of Los Alamos researchers led by Victor Klimov has shown that carrier multiplicationuwhen a photon creates multiple electronsuis a real phenomenon in tiny semiconductor crystals and not a false observation born of extraneous effects that mimic carrier multiplication. The research, ...
What happens when we sleep.
Mar 01, 2009 ... This release is available in French. Lack of sleep is a common complaint but for many, falling asleep involuntarily during the day poses a very real and dangerous problem. A new study from the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) at McGill University demonstrates interestingly, ...
A Zen discovery: Unrusted iron in ocean.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Iron dust, the gold of the oceans and rarest nutrient for most marine life, can be washed down by rivers or blown out to sea or u a surprising new study finds u float up from the sea floor. The discovery, published online Feb. 8 in Nature Geoscience, connects life at the surface ...
Building trust, increasing awareness among minorities.
Mar 01, 2009 ... As science continues to show an increasing lack of access and poor outcomes among minority patients with cancer, the American Association for Cancer Research is working toward understanding the fundamental issues of trust and awareness among these populations. At the Conference on the ...
Scientists identify bacteria that increase plant growth.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Through work originally designed to remove contaminants from soil, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and their Belgium colleagues at Hasselt University have identified plant-associated microbes that can improve plant growth on marginal land ....
Emperor penguins march toward extinction?
Mar 01, 2009 ... Popularized by the 2005 movie "March of the Penguins," emperor penguins could be headed toward extinction in at least part of their range before the end of the century, according to a paper by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) researchers published January 26, 2009, in the ...
Rural areas able to increase screening capacity for colorectal cancer.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Arizona has the ability to expand colorectal cancer screening capacity; this potential increase was more pronounced in rural as compared to urban regions, according to data presented at the American Association for Cancer Research conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities. ...
Accidental wireless.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Following a rollover automobile accident, driver and passengers are usually unable to call for help. So, unless the accident occurs on a busy road, rescue is unlikely to arrive in time to save them. Writing in the International Journal of Intelligent Defence Support Systems, US researchers ...
Water lilies inspire scientists to create large-scale graphene films.
Mar 01, 2009 ... In the world of nanomaterials, scientists and engineers can create new structures with tiny building blocks as small as one billionth of a meter. But in order to construct new materials and devices, researchers first need to understand how these tiny units interact with each ...
'Sister' factors promote survival of blood-system stem cells.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Stem cells of any kind are defined by their eternal nature, reproducing themselves and providing a pool of cells from which more differentiated tissues arise. Now a group of researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in collaboration with researchers in Australia and the United ...
JCI online early table of contents: Feb. 9, 2009.
Mar 01, 2009 ... A long and healthy life for mice lacking the protein AT1A Ariela Benigni and colleagues, at the "Mario Negri" Institute for Pharmacological Research, Italy, have found that mice lacking the protein AT1A live substantially longer than normal mice. As drugs that antagonize AT1A ...
Routine scans for low-back pain do not improve outcomes.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Physicians should not immediately order routine scans for low-back pain unless they observe features of a serious underlying condition, researchers in the Oregon Evidence-Based Practice Center at Oregon Health & Science University report. Their findings are published in this week's edition ...
Biotech scientists team with curators to stem decay of world's art, cultural heritage.
Mar 01, 2009 ... The growing relationship between scientists and curators is the focus of a 4-day, UN-affiliated international conference in Caracas designed to promote innovative ways to stem the decay of some of humanity's greatest art and cultural treasures. "With the world financial crisis ...
Gut bacteria can manufacture defenses against cancer and inflammatory bowel disease.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Bacteria naturally present in the human gut could produce substances that help to protect against colon cancer and provide therapy for inflammatory bowel disease. In a paper published in the journal Microbiology, researchers from the University of Aberdeen Rowett Institute of Nutrition and ...
Television & New Media commemorates 10th anniversary with special issue and podcasts.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC -- Television & New Media (published by SAGE) turns ten this month. To commemorate that milestone, the journal has published a special issue which includes podcasts of three key articles. The special 10th anniversary ...
Scientists report gene network in early tooth development.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Darwin had his finches, Morgan had his fruit flies, and scientists today have cichlid fishes to trace the biological origins of jaws and teeth. In this week's issue of the journal PLoS Biology, researchers supported by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, part of the ...
Caregivers not receiving the help they need, study shows.
Mar 01, 2009 ... Caregivers of children with special health care needs often do not get the respite care they need, according to the findings of a recent study by researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. Researchers found that families with private insurance have more unmet ...
UNC study hints at new approaches to prevent transplant rejection.
Mar 01, 2009 ... To prevent the rejection of newly transplanted organs and cells, patients must take medicines that weaken their entire immune systems. Such potentially life-saving treatments can, paradoxically, leave those receiving them susceptible to life-threatening infections. Now ...
Sleeping brain is still hard at work: Mechanisms for consolidation of cortical plasticity.(Report)
Mar 01, 2009 ... New research provides strong support for the idea that one of the key functions of sleep is the consolidation of memories. The study, published by Cell Press in the February 12th issue of the journal Neuron, provides fascinating insight into the cellular mechanisms that govern the ...
MIT: a possible treatment for Rett syndrome.
Mar 01, 2009 ... A molecule that promotes brain development could serve as a possible treatment for Rett syndrome, the most common form of autism in girls, according to researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. The ...
Tracking poultry litter phosphorus: Threat of accumulation?
Mar 01, 2009 ... The Delmarva Peninsula, flanking the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay, is home to some 600 million chickens. The resulting poultry manure and some of the chicken house bedding material is usually composted and then spread onto croplands as a fertilizer. Phosphorus-31 nuclear ...